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Apollo banged his fist on the door to what was his apartment. He just needed a little more time to scrape the money together for rent, but it was too late. The small pink eviction notice crumpled easily in the attorney’s tight grip. This was the last straw. If it was not bad enough that his boss was convicted of heinous crimes and he had no one in his life to fall back on, he now did not even have a place to sleep. With his jaw clenched in desperation and anger, the young man entered the apartment for the last time.
The notice informed him that he had 24 hours to remove his belongings, but looking around the room, there was not much worth keeping. After throwing everything that he deemed necessary for everyday living: clothes, deodorant, all the money he had saved up, and a couple other trinkets of sentimental value-- Apollo gathered up anything remaining that he might be able to pawn for a bit more cash. With one more look around the room, he decided it was time to say goodbye to the room he had spent the last couple years of his life in. Before leaving the apartment, the attorney ran and grabbed his hair gel and shoved it in his bag. With that he walked outside and closed the door behind him with finality.
The young man stood on the balcony outside his home as the wave of realization washes over him that he officially had no place to go.
After almost an hour of wandering the city, Apollo managed to locate one of the thousand pawn shops in Japanifornia. Walking into a place like that was the last place the young attorney every imagined he would be when he finally passed the bar, but here he was ready to sell everything he thought could get him a quick buck.
As he laid all his valuables on the counter in front of the man behind the counter he glanced down at his lapel and debated in a moment of weakness whether or not it was worth it to sell his badge. Would that even be legal? What if he found a reason to step back into a courtroom? With a slight shake of his head he decided against it, rather he took of the small golden pin and shoved it his pocket while the pawn shop man examined what was on the counter before him. Even if he was not going to sell it, that did not mean he was going to wear it everywhere. At some point he probably should have changed out of his red vest and pants that he had been wearing for his time in court and into something more reasonable but it had not been in the forefront of his mind at the time.
The man was pulled out of his thought by other man revealing to him the price which he would pay for the goods with a predatory smile. While the number was lower than Apollo would have hoped, he accepted it. He was ready to be out of that place.
Despite his hurry to get out, the attorney had no idea where to go next. It was hitting him hard how little he really had. No car. No home. No job. No friends. Nothing. He flopped down on a bench in the park across the street from the pawn shop, leaning his head back, stretching his arms along the back of it, and closing his eyes. He was not sure how long he sat like the but at some point he must have fallen asleep because he awoke to a finger jabbing against his temple and an accented voice speaking in his ear. Apollo jolted up, and the other man jumped as well at the sudden movement but regained his composure quickly.
“Ah! Herr Forehead, you are up!” the stranger exclaimed straightening up proudly.
“I-wha?” The young attorney sputtered before taking a breath and organizing his thoughts, but rather than any of the more important things he wanted to say came out, Apollo found himself asking, “Herr Forehead?”
“Well I had to call you something”
“It’s not polite to call someone by their features. What would you think if I called you-” the young attorney looked at yhe stranger for the first time and his sentancewas cut short. He recoiled at the initial though that the man who woke him was none other than his former boss. Despite his quick recovery, it was obvious that his reaction was noticed.
“Oh, a fan?” The strangers voice changed, developing a forced cockiness. The response however left Apollo even more confused.
“Fan? Of what?”
The other man’s lips pressed together into a thin line, “The Gavinners?” At the lack of reaction to the name of his band, the stranger continued, “If it isn't that I am a famous rock star, what was that reaction for?”
Apollo could not quite figure out everything that seemed familiar about this man and spoke carefully trying to keep any ifthe emotion that accompanied thoughts of his old boss from his voice, “You just reminded me of someone.” The man before him did have the same blonde hair as Kristoph and a similar face shape, but that is where the likeness ended. This man was nicely tanned with bright eyes and piercings. A gaudy chain with what might be a “G” rested on his chest along with an obnoxious purple coat and what looked like leather pants, “but you definitely aren't him”
“Well allow me to introduce myself, I am Klavier Gavin: rockstar prosecuter.” The man was full of faux pride as he spoke and Apollo could feel his bracelet react to the statement but he worked to ignore it.
The attorney responded with his name and that was it.
“You have to give me more than that, Herr Forehead” Klavier whined, “Maybe something about why you were sleeping on a park bench?”
“You want my life story of how I got here?” Apollo raised his eyebrow challenging the other man to press him further.
“Only if you want to share. I have no where to be.”
“I would have imagined a ‘rockstar prosecuter’ to lead a busy life.”
“I'm taking a break.”
Apollo sighed. He saw no reason to hide from this stranger so he answered the question, “Short version, my boss was a criminal, I’m practically broke, and I got kicked out of my apartment. So now I'm here.”
The blonde did not respond immediately, but rather stood in what seemed like deep thought for a few moments before he spoke again, “Run away with me”
“What!?” The younger man stood up in surprise and he would swear he could feel his hair sticking up even further than usual.
“Run away with me. We will get in my car and go.” Klavier looked him straight in the eye as his repeated himself.
“Why would I do that? Besides don’t you have a job or something? I can’t- we can’t-” Apollo sputtered, his mind flew through all the reasons that running away with a stranger was not a good idea. There was no way in hell he was doing that.
“I don't have a job. I have nothing keeping me here. My band broke up, my brother is gone, and I was getting ready to just go when I saw you here. Come with me.”
“I can’t” Though he was calmer again on the outside, the young attorney’s brain was still running a mile a minute. He could not not go with the other man. He just could not.
“Why not?”
The simple statement stopped Apollo’s thought process. Why couldn’t he? What was stopping him? There was nothing left for him in Japanifornia. At least if he went with Klavier he would have a car to help protect him from the elements. It was a step up from the bench he currently claimed. After meeting the blonde’s expecting eyes, he took a nervous breath and replied, “Okay. I'll go.”